Bag-fasteiter



E. A. MALLORY.

BAG FASTENER.

c. l6. RENEWED FEB 2 APPLICATION FILED 4,1919. 1,318,893. Patented 0ct.14,1919.

WITNESSES I v BY WW UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIQE.

ELWYN MALLORY, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

BAG-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent,

PatentedOct. 14., 1919.

Application filed December 14, 1916, Serial No; 136,980. Renewed February 24, 1919. Seria1 No. 278,937.

To all whom it may concern:

e it known that I, ELWYN A. MALLORY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bag-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in bag fasteners, and more particularly to a device of this character intended for use in fastening and holding in closed relation, the open top end of grain bags, cement sacks, and other bags or sacks of large size and containing pulverulent or loose material which is likely tosift and to place strain upon the gathered in and closed end, thus making the use of a string or cord impractical.

I am aware that heretofore wire has been used infastening the gathered in open end of cement and other bags oflarge size and of coarseor stiff material, however, in those instances of which I am aware the wire was used by being wrapped around the end of the bag and twistedtogether at its ends, thus making the fastening somewhat dilhcult to release and practically impossible for reuse, and it is a purpose of my invention to provide a bag fastener preferably constructed of lengths of wire bent to the proper form and connected together in such manner that the gathered in open end of a.

bag or sack can be secured in the closed relation and by a Very simple manual manlpulation the fastener can be released following which it may be reused upon same bags or upon other bags of like or dissimilar character.

A further object resides in so shaping the parts of the fastener by which the gathered or folded in end of the bag is held that the bag material is clamped within the portion and thus a fastener of stock size can be used upon various types and characters of bags with equally eflicient results, and to so construct the fastening members that they are readily applied around the gathered inend of the bag and then are brought toward each other with a clamping'm ovement and are secured in such relation that they positively grip and hold against the material of the ba Tet another object is to so construct the securing means that it is held by the gathered in end of the bag against casual or accidental movement to the position in which it is released from the fastening member.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the drawings and then more particularly pointed out in the drawings.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a View in elevation showing a fragmentary portion of the upper end of a bag with my invention applied thereon. e

vFig. 2,is a view in perspective showing the fastener 'in the form which it takes previous to application to a bag.

As has been stated, the fastener is intended to be applied to the gathered in top end of a bag or sack after the filling of the same, and the bag embracing members 1 and 2, which are each preferably made up of a single length of wire, are bent to provide the loops 3 and 4, after which the two ends of. the wire are twisted together to form the fulcrum portions 5 and 6 fromwhich the ends spread inbranched relation to take substantially a Y-shape. At the ends of the wires closing the member 2, the eyes or loops 7 and 8 are formed, and a loop 9 formed at the extremity of one of the branched ends of the wire closing the member '1 is engagedthrough the'loop or eye 7 of the member 2 thus hinging the two members together The remaining end of'the wire from which the member 1 is bent is formed into a hook 10, which preferably opens to have the billthereof disposed downwardly-when thefastener is secured in place. A locking bar 11 has an eye or .loop 12 at one end thereof mounted through the loop 4 of the member 2, and the remaining end of this locking bar 11 is formed into a hook 13."

In the use of the device, the top of the bag is gathered in and has its open end drawn in tightly slightly below the extreme edge. The bag embracing members 1 and 2 are then opened by releasing thehook 10 from the eye 8 and taking thesereleased ends of the wire apart around the connection through the eyes 7 and 9 at a hinged joint. The gathered in portion of the bag top is then fitted within the substantially Y-shaped branched ends of the members 1 and 2 and the fulcrums 5 and 6 are thus swung to extend in alinement in which relation of the parts the hook 10 may be insorted through the eye 8. This binding ac tion as obtained by the placing of the hook 10 within the eye 8, will hold the bag top with a reasonable degree of security, due to the naturally elastic or resilient qualitie of the material of the bag or sack which will spring out at its end over the branch arms of the members 1 and 2 and will hold these bag embracing members against displacement, however, it is advisable that the members 1 and 2 be positively clamped against the bag to insure that a more secure fastening grip is obtained upon the closed end thereof. The fu-lcrums 5 and 6 are moved upwardly and are consequently swung inwardly; and the locking bar 11 is then swung down against the top of the bag and is inserted through the loop 3 of the member 1 sufticiently that the bill it of the hook 13 clears the loop 3, following which the pressure of the bag against this locking bar tending to move the same upwardly in a swinging path around its hinged con nection in the loop 1, while the members 1 and 2 will have pressure exerted thereagainst to swing the same outwardly and consequently the locking bar will be moved upwardly and the outward movement of the embracing members 1 and Q will cause the loop 3 to be engaged beneath the bill of the hook 13. lVhen it is desired to again release the fastening, the fulcrums 5 and 6 will be grasped and forced toward each other and the locking bar 11 will be then forced downwardly until the bill 14 of the hook 13 clears the loop 3 when the fulcrums may be released and the hook 13 will be withdrawn from the loop 3. The hook 10 can then be removed from the loop or eye 8 and the bag embracing members 1 and 2 opened and removed from the closed end of the bag.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a bag fastener which can be used in holding closed and securing grain bags, cement sacks, and bags and sacks as used in a number of other connections and which device is so constructed that it is very readily attached and removed and may be reapplied or used in conjunction with another bag, and while I have herein shown and described only specific construction and specific arrangements of the parts, it will of course be understood that changes. and variations might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts with out departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, in view of which fact I do not wish to be limited to the exact disclosure but only to such points as may be set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A bag fastener including means to embrace and to be connected together to hold the open end of a bag when the same is gathered in to close the bag, and means to secure the embracing means against removal.

2. A bag fastener including means to be removably fitted and connected to embrace and hold the open end of a bag when the same is gathered in to close the bag, and means to be releasably connected with said. embracing means to secure thesame against casual or accidental removal.

3. A bag fastener including apair of bag embracing members shaped to be fitted to and having portions thereof connected around the end of a bag when the same is gathered in to close the bag, and means to be connected between said members to secure the same against removal.

l. A bag fastener including a pair of bag embracing members shaped to have branched portions thereof received and fastened around the end of a bag when the same is gathered in to close the bag, and a locking bar carried by one of said members to have connection with the remaining member to secure the same against being released.

5. A bag fastener including a bag embracing member shaped from a single length of wire bent to form a loop and with the ends thereof disposed in branched relation and provided at their extremities with loops, a

second bag embracing member shaped to have a loop in the body portion and with the ends branched and provided with a loop and a hook formation, the loop of the second mentioned member being connected through one of the loops of the first mentioned memher in such relation that the branched portions of the bag embracing members may be fitted around the upper end of a bag when the same is gathered in to close the bag and the hook may be inserted through the remaining vloop of the first mentioned memher to secure the parts, and means carried by the body loo of one of said members to be engaged through the body loop of the remaining member and to secure the members against removal.

6. A bag fastener including a bag embracing member shaped from a single length ofwire bent to provide a loop substantially at the center of the body portion with the adjacent extent of the wire twisted to form a fulcrum arm and the ends branched from the fulcrum 'arm' and shaped to provide eyes, a second bag embracing member also formed from a single length of wire bent to provide a loop at substantially the center of the body portion and having the adjacent portions twisted to form a fulcrum arm with the ends of the length of wire branched and formed into an eye and a hook, the eye of the second mentioned member being fitted through one of the eyes of the first mentioned member to hinge the members together in such relation that the gathered in end of the bag may be fitted in the branched portions of the members and the hook of the second mentioned member may be inserted throught the remaining eye of said first member to hold the parts upon a bag, and a locking bar provided with a loop at one of its ends mounted through the loop of one of said bag embracing members and the looking bar provided with a hook at the remaining end to be fitted through the loop of against casual or accidental displacement. 15 y In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ELWYN A. MALLORY.

l/Vitnesses:

OLIN A. LADWIG, ELWYN A. MALLoRY, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

